


In the Time of Molten Ice

by roguefaerie (samidha)



Category: Original Work
Genre: Boundaries, Chocolate Box Exchange, Chocolate Box Exchange 2019, Communication, F/F, Not Gals Being Pals, Power Dynamics, Power Imbalance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-10-25 18:35:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17730479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samidha/pseuds/roguefaerie
Summary: Queen Marigold has been deposed for the will to follow her heart when it comes to herself. Her knight Isadora is with her.





	In the Time of Molten Ice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [arpent](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arpent/gifts).



The woman who had been Queen Marigold was humiliated. She was exhausted. They had ridden for days and days on end, together, only the two of them left now. At night when they stopped, she would cry tears of the bereft, though silently or at least as quietly as she could.

It was never that Marigold hadn’t had dreams of a life outside of a palace’s walls before she became the queen. It was only that the pain of having her entire kingdom turn against her was beyond measure. It was a pain Marigold could never have anticipated. 

Isadora, who rode with her, was the only one who had stood beside her as her kingdom raged. They screamed, _Witch_ and _Sorceress_ and _Temptress_ and they stood at the gates and watched as the castle fell to ruins. 

Isadora stood beside her, strong and unflinching as the screamed taunts came flying. There were calls to keep her in the dungeon, to flay her, to burn her. But all the while Isadora stood guard, refusing to leave the queen’s side. The knight’s ice-silver eyes never showed anything but the fiercest determination and loyalty.

*~*~*

 _”The queen is being deposed,”_ , came the nervous whispers among Isadora’s colleagues at first and then in louder and louder utterances until it seemed like one long shout from the populace.

The queen had always stood for love: of her people, and of the land, but when it had come time for the people to recognize the queen’s love of the heart, for herself, it could not be done.

It was not the way.

Perhaps it would have been more accepted if the queen had chosen as was expected of her. Perhaps if she had known what place was hers in the game of monarchy.

But Isadora knew and understood. The queen would be forced, and in fact would sooner abandon, the title of monarch than be rid of the desires of her own heart, her own will.

Isadora knew these feelings, for they found a place within her as well.

The queen was being deposed, and Isadora, the head of the castle’s forces, would go with her. In full view of everyone, smug as they were, she threw down the standard and walked away, knowing that not a soul would follow her. There were others she knew among the troops who were in much the same predicament as herself and the queen ( _oh herself and the queen_ ) but she walked away alone nonetheless.

She brought herself before the queen and whispered ( _I will take you where you need to go_.) her allegiance.

The queen followed her without so much as a word, into the belly of the castle and through the tunnels, and out.

They rode together, with the queen holding tight to Isadora, two atop the same horse. They rode for a day, and then another, and Isadora provided the queen with apples and cheese and bread stolen from the kitchens.

When finally they were able to stop for long enough, it was because Isadora felt safe enough with the distance between herself and the queen and anyone who might find them from the Palace Guard.

She felt the immense grief of her queen, though there was an attempt to hide it.  
She wished to offer comfort, giving her any number of physical assurances that she might to a member of the guard but it--it--no, it would not be appropriate.

She thought of the two of them atop the horse and only wished they could continue riding, riding forever.

She would not--she would not--be at a loss for what to do now, with her queen beside her.

Night had fallen, and before the crackling fire, long after the fish Isadora caught was cooked and eaten between them, suddenly her defenses dropped. She felt the queen’s drop as well, like both of them exhaling at once amid the pleasures of their full stomachs.

She knelt suddenly, more like falling to her knees, and said, “My queen.” A sudden shaking went through her whole body. “I--”

“Rise, my knight.”

“My queen.”

“Rise.”

“I have wished to say-- I have seen. If you-- Would like to express that which is in your heart, my queen…. With-- With--” Isadora looked down. “It is also in mine.”

The queen blinked. “My knight, what are you saying?”

“Long have I seen, my queen...the struggle of your heart. It is one that I also know.”

The queen sat back slightly, shocked. “You… Also…?”

Isadora nodded. But the queen’s face shuttered close for just long enough--long enough for Isadora to wonder if she had been mistaken.

And then it broke open again.

“I would...I would give anything. To be...as myself. And out of these bloody lands!” she added, higher in tone and letting her frustration out in a wave.

“There are things...things I can...oh, my queen...” Isadora said. She remembered her training, and did not reach for the one who held station above her, but her fingers moved against her side.

“No, my knight. Not...not yet,” the queen said, perhaps aware of the need for boundaries.  
“You feel the power of my station and you are under the weight of it. The truth is, I am hardly a queen anymore and I must ask you first--”

“Anything.”

“Let me live as you have, for a time, before I do as you can see I-- I clearly wish.”

“Time,” Isadora said.

“Yes. Give me time to be as you are. It is only fair, to you and to me.”

“You wish…”

“I do.”

Isadora nodded. “Then it shall be as you need, my qu--”

“Marigold.”

“As you need, Marigold, and as you have requested. “I will--if you wish--”

“Stay by my side. Long have I needed a companion.”

“And I as well.”

“When the time is right, my Isadora,” the former queen said, addressing the knight by her name for the first time. “We will know. There will be no question.”

“No question, my Lieg--Marigold. No question.”

“When it comes, we will be as equals. When it is naturally so--”

“We can be partners.”

“We are if that is what we both wish, and it is in my heart as you have seen. It will be as it will be. But Isadora....”

“Yes?”

“We are alone here. And if you wish…”

Marigold opened her arms suddenly and drew Isadora close inside them, the way the knight had wished to do as these days passed by. “We will not leave each others’ sides. We… will allow it to be what it will be.”

And then she held Isadora gently against herself for just long enough, longer than she might have.

It was just as beautiful as Isadora imagined it would be, and her heart soared.

This was only the beginning.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like this fic! :)


End file.
